[spoiler]So in my campaign world there are no magic shops to just go buy or upgrade whatever you want, so I asked my players to tell me two specific items they want for their characters, so I can place them in the campaign. One of my barbarians has a +1 greatsword (his father's sword - it was stolen, he recovered it, and that is how he met the party), and one of his "wants" is to have it upgraded to a +1 Berserker Greatsword (I'll let him choose which version of berserker, too).

My campaign is about to start following the framework of Red Hand of Doom, so I figure I'll place a +1 Berserker greatsword in place of the +1 Frost Bastard Sword that is hidden in the vault of Vraath Keep, but I don't want the party to keep the one they've got, so I'm going to replace the minotaur bodyguard "champion" in Vraath Keep with a Tanarukk Fighter 2/Barbarian 2 that has Power Attack, Leap Attack, Improved Sunder, Imp Bull Rush, Combat Brute, and Shock Trooper (CR 6/GCR 5 - my party is gestalt, and will be 7th level by then). He will charge into battle after a few rounds have gone by, Leap Attacking to sunder the Party Barb's +1 Greatsword with a +1 Great Axe (+27 vs the PC's +13-ish opposed attack roll; 1d12+32 damage [+1 greatsword has 32 hp's]), and following that up with a Sundering Cleave. At that point, his AC will be 6, and will probably be barely alive come round 2.[/spoiler]

So, I will take away the character's father's sword (he doesn't have any attachment to his father, who disowned him), but will almost immediately replace it with the "upgraded version." (assuming they search the keep).

Q 46: Is this too dirty of a thing for a DM to do?

Q 47: When using the Heedless Charge ability of Shock Trooper, when does the penalty to your AC apply? Only after you've attacked, or would it apply to any movement-related AoO's you incur while charging?

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Q 47: When using the Heedless Charge ability of Shock Trooper, when does the penalty to your AC apply? Only after you've attacked, or would it apply to any movement-related AoO's you incur while charging?

A 46 It'll seem like it at the time, but once the players realize it was plot device based, they should forgive. Might not like that they couldn't at least sell it for half.A 47 It's supposed to be during the charge when the base -2 happens.

Why not instead unlock new abilities in the original weapon(possibly by stabbing the right magical dohicky given the desired enchantment)? It seems to me that there'd be an emotional attachment to the old weapon, and finding new powers within heirloom weapons isn't all that uncommon.

« Last Edit: October 26, 2011, 11:14:51 AM by veekie »

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"Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. At 2:15, it begins rolling up characters."

[spoiler]"Just what do you think the moon up in the sky is? Everyone sees that big, round shiny thing and thinks there must be something round up there, right? That's just silly. The truth is much more awesome than that. You can almost never see the real Moon, and its appearance is death to humans. You can only see the Moon when it's reflected in things. And the things it reflects in, like water or glass, can all be broken, right? Since the moon you see in the sky is just being reflected in the heavens, if you tear open the heavens it's easy to break it~" -Ibuki Suika, on overkill

Why not instead unlock new abilities in the original weapon(possibly by stabbing the right magical dohicky given the desired enchantment)? It seems to me that there'd be an emotional attachment to the old weapon, and finding new powers within heirloom weapons isn't all that uncommon.

Think you meant a higher number.

But you're right though. Maybe it's actually a legacy weapon. That could be it's own campaign right there.

Q 48: Does the cantrip Message require line of sight? At first use? On subsequent rounds? The spell says "You point your finger at each creature you want to receive the message" so what if you have line of effect but not line of sight, can you "point" to a target you cannot see?

Tactically this spell seems way overpowered for a cantrip - virtually unfailing communication over medium duration and range.